Arsenal 'willing to pay £64m for Porto forward Evanilson'

Arsenal are reportedly willing to spend big money to sign Porto forward Evanilson during the summer transfer window.

Although the Gunners were able to score five times against Crystal Palace at the weekend, their attack has generally been less prolific than their rivals in 2023-24.

Despite scoring just six fewer Premier League goals than Manchester City, only eight strikes have come from the duo of Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nkeitah.

As a result, there is an increasingly urgency to strengthen in the final third and Arsenal's preference would be to make a statement signing before the end of January.

However, as acknowledged by Mikel Arteta, the North Londoners may not make any signings this month, instead relying on their current options due to FFP restrictions.

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Nevertheless, that will not stop plans from being put in place for the summer, Arteta and the club's recruitment team aware that at least one attacking signing will be necessary.

Napoli's Victor Osimhen and Brentford's Ivan Toney are known to have admirers in Arsenal, yet is it unclear whether Arsenal are willing to meet alleged demands of at least £100m and £70m respectively.

According to Fichajes, Arsenal could instead move for Evanilson from Porto for a slightly lower fee.

The 24-year-old is enjoying an outstanding campaign with the Portuguese giants, contributing 16 goals and five assists in all competitions.

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Four of those strikes have come from five Champions League appearances and Porto will now lock horns with Arsenal in the last-16 stage, which commences next month.

Arsenal's new scout Paulo Xavier has allegedly been assigned to assessing potential new frontmen for Arsenal with Evanilson emerging as a standout candidate.

A fee of €75m (£64.1m) is said to be required to get a deal over the line for a player who has a contract at Estadio do Dragao until 2027.

While it has previously been claimed that a release clause of €100m (£85.5m) is present in Evanilson's contract, Porto are unlikely to be able to generate that fee with Evanilson yet to be capped by Brazil and having only cost €8.8m in 2020.